New animal studies in Wuhan could help uncover origin of COVID-19

LONDON (AP) — Scientists searching for the origins of COVID 19 They have identified a short list of animals that may have helped spread the virus to humans, an effort they hope could help them trace the source of the outbreak.

Researchers analyzed genetic material collected from the Chinese market where the first outbreak was detected and found that the animals most likely to be infected were raccoon dogscivet cats and bamboo rats. Scientists suspect that the infected animals were first introduced to the Wuhan market in late November 2019, which then sparked the pandemic.

Michael Worobey, one of the authors of the new study, said they discovered which animal subpopulations could have transmitted the coronavirus to humans. That could help researchers determine where the virus typically circulates in animals, known as its natural reservoir.

“For example, with raccoon dogs, we can show that the raccoon dogs that were (on the market) … were a subspecies that circulates more in the southern regions of China,” said Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona. Knowing that could help researchers understand where these animals came from and where they were sold. Scientists could then start collecting samples from bats in the region, which are known to be natural reservoirs of related coronaviruses like SARS.

While the research strengthens the hypothesis that COVID-19 emerged from animals, it does not resolve the political and polarized debate over whether the virus is Instead, it came from a research lab in China.

Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said the new genetic analysis suggested the pandemic “had its evolutionary roots in the market” and that it was highly unlikely that COVID-19 had infected people before being identified in the Huanan market.

“It’s an important finding and it does tip the balance in favor of an animal origin,” said Woolhouse, who was not connected to the research. “But it’s not conclusive.”

A panel of experts led by the World Health Organization concluded in 2021 that the virus probably transmitted from animals to humans and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said that was the case. ‘Premature’ to rule out lab leak.

An AP investigation in April found the search for the origins of COVID in China is plunged into darkness after political infighting and missed opportunities by local and global health officials to reduce the possibilities.

Scientists say they may never know for sure exactly where the virus came from.

In the new study, published Thursday in the journal CellScientists from Europe, the United States and Australia analyzed data previously released by experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It included 800 samples of genetic material collected by Chinese workers on January 1, 2020, at the Huanan seafood market, the day after Wuhan municipal authorities raised the alarm about an unknown respiratory virus.

Chinese scientists published the genetic sequences they discovered last year, but did not identify any of the animals potentially infected with the coronavirus. In the new analysis, the researchers used a technique that can identify specific organisms from any mix of genetic material collected from the environment.

Worobey said the information provides “a snapshot of what was happening (in the market) before the pandemic began” and that genetic analyses like theirs “help fill in the gaps as to how the virus might have started to spread.”

Woolhouse said the new study, while important, left some crucial questions unanswered.

“There’s no doubt COVID was circulating in that market, which was full of animals,” he said. “The question that still remains is how did it get there?”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.